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> Really wish they went with 8 seconds instead of 6 for the videos. I mean 1 byte = 8 bits after all.

Actually, a byte could and did have a variety of bits as they were generally hardware dependent. Generally, a byte is the smallest number of bits that a hardware can process. The most popular bytes early on were 4 bits and especially 6-bit bytes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte#6_bit

Octets ( 8 bit bytes ) became widely adopted after IBM went with octets in the 1960s and the industry basically followed and octets became so ubiquitous that byte and octet became synonyms. It's similar to how google became a synonym for internet search ( "you can just google it" ) or how coke became a synonym for soda in parts of the world.

So while it is widely accepted that a byte is 8 bits, but technically, it isn't true. Octets are 8 bits and most/all bytes in the world are octets. But it doesn't necessarily have to be so. Octets always have to be 8-bits, but a byte doesn't.


This is exactly the type of response that keeps me reading HN daily. I love it.

Apologies for the unsubstantive comment of my own here. I felt like an upvote wasn't enough to show my appreciation.


TIL!

French speakers do not use "byte" but "octet". If you look at French websites they use ko, mo, and go.


> It's weird that we don't know what teeth were like before fluoride was invented.

We have teeth from fossils that are a few thousand years old all the way to over a million years old.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129562...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oldest-human-f...

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/01/oldest-human...


> You say that as though people aren't susceptible to influence form malicious actors spouting propaganda.

If that's the case, we'd have to shut down every news and media organization.

> Every news paper, book publisher, TV channel or other media outlet, ever, has exerted editorial discretion over the content they choose to make available.

That's the point. Is amazon a platform or a publisher. I think we've allowed major tech companies to be ambiguous for far too long. As a society, we should force the major tech companies to decide once and for all. If they want to be publishers fine, then they should be responsible for all the content. If they want to be a platform, then they shouldn't be allowed to censor and only take down illegal content.

These tech companies shouldn't be allowed to eat the cake and have it too.


> Can you give me an example of "media and establishment are repeatedly caught misleading the public"?

Look up every war we've been involved in. The media/establishment lied. Try Nayirah testimony if you want to get started. If you want more recent, look up the anti-venezuelan NYTimes piece by Joanna Hausmann, a minor youtuber. Why was she given a platform on the NYTimes? Oh because her father is an ousted former venezuelan central banker behind the coup attempts in venezuela. Did NYTimes mention this? Of course not. But then again, what more do we expect from the NYTimes which supported the first coup of Chavez. Why is an "objective" newspaper behind a coup attempt in a foreign country? Because the NYTimes was founded by bankers to support bankers interests.

Go look up the lies the media peddled on the syria war and the chemical attacks. Notice how they went quiet about that?

Look up the libya war. Look at the lies peddled about venezuela.

> My impression is the whole "media is lying" is a narrative furthered by Fox

That's because you watch too much CNN/MSNBC or read too much NYTimes/WashingtonPost. You have that impression because you've been brainwashed ( just like the poor fox news viewers you pity ). You aren't any better than what you disdain.

The "media is lying" is as old as the country.

"As for what is not true you will always find abundance in the newspapers." – Thomas Jefferson

"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle." – Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a free speech proponent who hated the lying press.

We even have a famed period in history named for the lying press and journalists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism

These predate fox news by more than a hundred years. You can generally trust the media to tell the truth about innocuous or unimportant events. The media, especially the highly regarded ones, lie about important events.

So if you are getting important news from dyspotian 1984 sounding "authoritative sources", know that you are being lied to.


> These past 4 months, people have been resigning faster than we can refill their spots.

I'd be asking for a significant raise. Looks like you walked into a short term supply and demand issue in your favor, not to mention a bunch of freed up cash for the company. Strike while the iron is hot.


Also this bloke was a "Kapoor". So he probably had very little political clout/connections and was simply targeted for convenience and used as a sacrificial lamb to placate the masses. The Sackler's are cash multibillionaires ( not stock billionaires ) and they have strong politicals connections in the NY area, etc.

This case reminds me in some way of the Abacus trial. The only financial institution to be tried for the financial crisis was a small local bank founded by a "Sung".

https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/22/abacus-only-bank-char...

You could watch a documentary about the case.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/abacus/

The Kapoor case, like the Sung case, is really a show trial.


> While there may be a few bad actors

The question is are these bad actors acting in support of Yang or to undermine Yang? If you were against Yang, imagine how easy it would be to set up bots to "support Yang" and then have fellow operatives/journalists who are against Yang write about Yang "bots". It's just as easy for Yang's detractors to set up bots as it is for his supporters.

There seems to be a concerted effort by certain operatives/journalists/etc to undermine certain political candidates by tainting them with "russian asset" or "bot" labels.

Without a doubt, there have been bot activity starting with obama/ron paul/etc in 2008 and everyone since in political life. If the author ( who also submitted her own article here ) wanted to find bots, there are far better candidates to focus on. Why the focus on Yang?

As with bots, journalists, media and everything, we have to understand the context and agenda.

Since the author also has an account here, I would love to know what her political leanings are and who she is supporting. Has she work for any political candidate before?


There are videos of real pyroclastic flow as well. The unzen eruption being a particularly famous one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvjwt9nnwXY

It's even terrifying watching the toxic cloud spread on youtube. I wonder how terrifying it must have been to see it live.


"A brand new day and

A brand new HN post on

Procrastination"

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22125883


If you like 1984 and doublethink, then you'll enjoy this. Department of War was rebranded as Department of Defense three months after 1984 was published. Life imitating art? And ever since, the Department of Defense has engaged in offensive wars all over the world nonstop. Though I suppose the best defense is a good offense...


To be fair, 1984 was published in 1948. Just about the right time for Department of War to be renamed for appropriate reasons.


It's the right name though, in my opinion.


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