Mason Wheeler 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: TPP Ratification Process Grinding To A Halt As Canada Launches 'Widespread Consultations' On The Deal

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 18 Dec, 2015 @ 07:20am

    One consequence of the other TPP parties not ratifying the agreement quickly is that it makes it even harder to pass the agreement in the US -- a classic vicious circle

    You spelled "virtuous" wrong.

  • On the post: Trump Calls For Partial Shutdown Of The Internet, Doesn't Understand What He's Saying

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2015 @ 07:17pm

    Bill Gates. Seriously?

    There goes any credibility he may have had right there, if the person he wants to talk to about Internet management is the guy who so famously did not understand the Internet that he blew the biggest example of First Mover Advantage that the world has ever seen and his company has still not recovered from it, 20 years later.

  • On the post: Nova Scotia Court Strikes Down Province's 'Unconstitutional' Cyberbullying Law

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2015 @ 10:10am

    As I understand it, ex parte means that only one party to a dispute needs to be present. So what's wrong with an "ex parte accusation"? If I have a problem with Bob violating my rights, I don't need to haul Bob into court just to accuse him; that would, in fact, be completely backwards.

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2015 @ 07:07am

    Re: Re: Re: Cell phone signal blocking.

    The restaurant may be their property, but my phone is my private property; what right does some building-owner have to unilaterally decide to violate my property rights just because he owns a building?

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2015 @ 07:04am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    "There are no void areas if you do special trick XYZ" is simply not true. Try placing a traffic cone (which is approximately the size of a toddler) directly behind the center of your rear bumper, then get in the car and see how far forward you have to drive before you can see it in any way. You might be surprised. I know I was when we did that in driver's ed.

    No children are going to be able to sneak up on you so you smush them when you back up.

    I'm sure that's a huge relief to the hundreds of small children every year who are hit by cars backing up, not to mention the drivers who never saw them. They don't have to worry about it anymore, because it simply can't happen.

    I don't need to add forty-thousand dollars to the price of the vehicle for an in-car CCTV system which attempts badly to replace that.

    Neither did I. My entire car cost significantly less than $40K, brand new. So now you're just being silly.

    FWIW, I've never bent a fender or bumper hitting anyone,

    ...and neither has anyone else, right up until they do. And then they have hit someone.

    I'll just put you down as the average java programmer who thinks the jvm is everything you need to care about, and deal with your broken hardware when you call me to tell me it's "acting up" and you've not a clue what could possibly be wrong.

    Based on what?

    I have just barely enough experience with the JVM to know I don't want any more experience with it; it's too broken in too many ways, particularly generics. As a matter of fact, I'm working with a few engineers on porting Microsoft's open-sourced CLR implementation to Android so people won't have to use Java or C++ or pay through the nose for Xamarin there, all of which are bad options to one degree or another. I work on native code for a living, I hack around in compilers for fun, and when hardware breaks that I can't fix, I replace it.

    But what does any of that have to do with driver safety in any way?

  • On the post: HIV Dating App Company Threatens Press With HIV Infection For Reporting On Personal Info Leak

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2015 @ 01:14pm

    I wonder if these guys are aware that it is specifically a felony to knowingly infect someone with the HIV virus. (They really should, being specialists in HIV-related issues and all.)

    Isn't threatening to commit a felony against someone a pretty serious crime in and of itself?

  • On the post: After Spending A Day As The Internet's Punching Bag, Philips Walks Back Firmware Update That Locked Out Third-Party Products

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2015 @ 11:23am

    However, we under estimated the impact this would have on a small number of customers who use lights from other brands which could not be controlled by the Philips Hue software.

    So it runs on an open standard, but their software only runs with their system and not other systems on that open standard. That necessarily means their software is doing extra stuff that's not part of the open standard, in an attempt to make competitors who faithfully implement the standard look bad by comparison.

    Back in the 90s, we called that "embrace, extend and extinguish," and the people who pioneered the strategy got a major antitrust suit brought against them over it.

    Sometimes history repeating itself can be a good thing...

  • On the post: Law Professor: ISIS Is, Like, Totally Scary, So Let's Do Away With The First Amendment

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2015 @ 10:55am

    I am not saying that ISIS is not a legitimate threat to cause some damage

    Then I will: they're a bad joke. Their "great victories" came because they attacked garrisons too cowardly to defend their posts even when they had a 10:1 advantage over the ISIS fighters. Somehow mistaking this for an actual victory, they then went on to do one of the stupidest things in the history of the Middle East, which is really saying a lot: they proclaimed a new caliphate.

    For those unfamiliar with the cultural issues involved, this is essentially a Muslim-world analogue to the government of the UK formally announcing an intent to restore the British Empire. Just imagine how well that would go over in the USA, Canada, Australia, India, and plenty of other nations worldwide, and you'll have a good idea of what the rest of the Middle East thought of that.

    Since then, they've had their hands full making a big mess of the territory they've managed to capture, (unsurprising, as conquerors are basically never good governors or administrators,) and fighting everyone around them. The attack in Paris notwithstanding, they seem to be mostly accomplishing a whole lot of nothing, but for some reason (because we need a bogeyman and Al Qaeda isn't much of a threat anymore?) everyone seems afraid of them.

    Mark my words: another 5 or 6 years and they'll be just another historical footnote, and they will have done it to themselves.

  • On the post: Add Verizon To The Growing List Of Companies Tap Dancing Around Net Neutrality With Zero Rating

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2015 @ 07:44am

    And while some implementations of zero rating may seem better than others (like T-Mobile's Binge On, which exempts all video from usage caps)

    Define "all". If I'm talking on Skype to my sister and she's showing me the latest cute thing my two-year-old nephew learned to do, is that exempt? Because it's definitely video. (And if so, is it still exempt if I only use audio? Because that's not video, but it takes much less bandwidth, which messes with your behavioral incentives a little...)

  • On the post: Chicago's Mayor Promises New Era Of Transparency After Shooting Video Forced Out Of City's Hands By Court

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2015 @ 07:27am

    The Farmer and the Viper

    It's amusing to watch how so many of the people stridently calling for Mayor Emmanuel's resignation right now are the same ones who worked so hard to get him elected in the first place.

    I say, let him stay in office and finish out his term. This is what you get, people of Chicago, for electing a politician with a long and well-documented history of corruption in the first place. Like the story of the farmer and the viper, you knew exactly what he was when you picked him up.

  • On the post: DEA Loses Big Drug Case, Thanks To Illegal Wiretap Warrants Prosecutor Calls 'Procedural Errors'

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2015 @ 04:41am

    Re: Exactly the sort of mindset you want in a DA

    No, as a matter of fact, there is a difference between being objectively guilty and being found guilty by a court. Hopefully a mess like this will lead the DEA to clean up their act so more guilty people won't get away with it like this.

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2015 @ 04:35am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    As I pointed out earlier, he apparently does not know what a void area is.

    As this concept is explained in driver's ed, it's at least somewhat reasonable to conclude that tqk does not, in fact, know how to drive, and therefore his opinions on the subject are not backed by any actual experience and can be safely discounted.

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2015 @ 04:31am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Precisely. Unlike some people in here who make a big deal of proclaiming their undying hatred for the film industry and swearing up and down that they'll never watch another mainstream movie again whenever any article about the MPAA's misdeeds gets posted, I actually enjoy going to the movies. I have for years, for longer than smartphones have been a thing, and I've never once actually seen the mythical "disruptive cellphone yakker" that everyone loves to wring their hands about. That sort of thing could almost lead one to believe that he doesn't exist. A very few times, I've noticed someone texting during a movie, but... so what? How does that interfere with my viewing experience? The screen is up and he's holding his phone down, so it's I'm not even looking at it. Why should I even care?

  • On the post: DEA Loses Big Drug Case, Thanks To Illegal Wiretap Warrants Prosecutor Calls 'Procedural Errors'

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2015 @ 04:39am

    Helios Hernandez

    Wow. Who names their son "sun"? :P

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2015 @ 04:38pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Sensors and cameras are the best invention ever to help keep the paint and body business busy!

    That's an incredibly cynical viewpoint.
    So they came out with the camera...no more dents at the back...started repairing the fenders. Watching the backup up camera and forgot to watch the front end swinging into something.

    I've never had that problem; my car has sensors on the front as well as the back. :)

    Bottom line: when moving around in close quarters, void areas are your worst enemy, and any technology that can help reduce or eliminate them helps improve your safety.

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2015 @ 02:25pm

    Re: Cell phone signal blocking.

    How many mass shootings have you experienced in person lately? I've never been anywhere near one, nor do I know anyone who has.

    My family moved to Marysville, Washington after I graduated. My brother was a student at the high school there. Luckily, he wasn't injured, but... yeah. Don't think "this will never effect me." I never thought it would effect me either, until I saw the name "Marysville Pilchuck High School" in the news one day while on lunch break.

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2015 @ 02:11pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    ...says the guy who apparently doesn't know what a void area is, or how many children small enough that they literally cannot be seen in a rearview mirror get hurt every year because of them. Backup cameras aren't about convenience or laziness or "not having to learn to use mirrors"; they're a basic safety feature for a very specific and very real use case. Mirrors are great for driving forward, but horrible for driving in reverse.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Quantum Computing Works Now (Sorta)

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2015 @ 06:58am

    Re: Re: NP-complete means (simplified version)

    Yes, I know, but that was a deliberately simplified post for the benefit of people without a background in computer science and complexity theory. :P

  • On the post: Dave Chappelle Thinks A Sock And A Dream Will Keep People From Using Phones At Shows

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 14 Dec, 2015 @ 01:00pm

    Remember when they complained about how disruptive the horseless carriage was to ordinary, decent horse-drawn traffic?

    Yeah, me neither. Everyone who said that is long dead now, and so is the concept of horse-drawn traffic in modern cities. This simple point is worth keeping in mind for people who complain about cell phones being disruptive.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: Quantum Computing Works Now (Sorta)

    Mason Wheeler ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2015 @ 07:07am

    Re: Re: Travelling Salesman

    Well, there are NP-complete problems and NP-hard problems. NP-complete means (simplified version) that it's very difficult to compute, but easy to verify the right answer once you see it. Factorization belongs to this category: once you have the factors, it's simple arithmetic to verify that they are indeed the factors of the number in question.

    The Traveling Salesman problem, on the other hand, is not easy to verify. It asks which permutation of possible routes the salesman may take is the fastest, and this necessarily requires you to compute every possible permutation of routes (or at least a significant percentage of them, if you're clever enough to find a way to prove some of them can be pruned early) and then see which of them is the shortest. A problem that's very difficult to both compute and verify is called NP-hard, and they're significantly worse than ordinary NP-complete problems.

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