Comment They can have my health records... (Score 3, Insightful) 38
Over my cold, dead body.
Because, at that point, I won't care. I'll be dead.
Comment Mammoth burgers (Score 2) 29
That's what I'm looking forward to.
Comment Re:New for Nerds (Score 1) 557
Fine, I'll say it. I've been here for a while
Owners of BitMEX, a Leading Bitcoin Exchange, Face Criminal Charges (nytimes.com) 24
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: American authorities brought criminal charges on Thursday against the owners of one of the world's biggest cryptocurrency trading exchanges, BitMEX, accusing them of allowing the Hong Kong-based company to launder money and engage in other illegal transactions. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted the chief executive of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, and three co-owners: Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed and Gregory Dwyer. Mr. Dwyer was arrested in Massachusetts on Thursday, while the other three men remained at large, authorities said.
Prosecutors said BitMEX had taken few steps to limit customers even after being informed that the exchange was being used by hackers to launder stolen money, and by people in countries under sanctions, like Iran. "BitMEX made itself available as a vehicle for money laundering and sanctions violations," the indictment released on Thursday said. BitMEX has handled more than $1.5 billion of trades each day recently, making it one of the five biggest exchanges on most days. BitMEX and Mr. Hayes have been known for pushing the limits in the unregulated cryptocurrency industry.
After it was founded in 2014, BitMEX grew popular by allowing traders to buy and sell contracts tied to the value of Bitcoin -- known as derivatives, or futures -- with few of the restrictions and rules that were in place in other exchanges. That allowed investors to take out enormous loans and make risky trades. The relaxed attitude also made it possible for people all over the world to easily move money in and out of BitMEX without the basic identity checks that can prevent money laundering. In August, BitMEX put in place some of those verification checks.
Prosecutors said BitMEX had taken few steps to limit customers even after being informed that the exchange was being used by hackers to launder stolen money, and by people in countries under sanctions, like Iran. "BitMEX made itself available as a vehicle for money laundering and sanctions violations," the indictment released on Thursday said. BitMEX has handled more than $1.5 billion of trades each day recently, making it one of the five biggest exchanges on most days. BitMEX and Mr. Hayes have been known for pushing the limits in the unregulated cryptocurrency industry.
After it was founded in 2014, BitMEX grew popular by allowing traders to buy and sell contracts tied to the value of Bitcoin -- known as derivatives, or futures -- with few of the restrictions and rules that were in place in other exchanges. That allowed investors to take out enormous loans and make risky trades. The relaxed attitude also made it possible for people all over the world to easily move money in and out of BitMEX without the basic identity checks that can prevent money laundering. In August, BitMEX put in place some of those verification checks.
Submission + - Publishers Worry as Ebooks Fly off Libraries' Virtual Shelves (wired.com)
An anonymous reader writes: After the pandemic closed many libraries’ physical branches this spring, checkouts of ebooks are up 52 percent from the same period last year, according to OverDrive, which partners with 50,000 libraries worldwide. Hoopla, another service that connects libraries to publishers, says 439 library systems in the US and Canada have joined since March, boosting its membership by 20 percent. Some public libraries, new to digital collections, delight in exposing their readers to a new kind of reading. The library in Archer City, Texas, population 9,000, received a grant to join OverDrive this summer. The new ebook collection “has really been wonderful,” says library director Gretchen Abernathy-Kuck. “So much of the last few months has been stressful and negative.” The ebooks are “something positive. It was something new.”
But the surging popularity of library ebooks also has heightened longstanding tensions between publishers, who fear that digital borrowing eats into their sales, and public librarians, who are trying to serve their communities during a once-in-a-generation crisis. Since 2011, the industry’s big-five publishers—Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan—have limited library lending of ebooks, either by time—two years, for example—or number of checkouts—most often, 26 or 52 times. Readers can browse, download, join waiting lists for, and return digital library books from the comfort of their home, and the books are automatically removed from their devices at the end of the lending period. The result: Libraries typically pay between $20 and $65 per copy—an industry average of $40, according to one recent survey—compared with the $15 an individual might pay to buy the same ebook online. Instead of owning an ebook copy forever, librarians must decide at the end of the licensing term whether to renew.
But the surging popularity of library ebooks also has heightened longstanding tensions between publishers, who fear that digital borrowing eats into their sales, and public librarians, who are trying to serve their communities during a once-in-a-generation crisis. Since 2011, the industry’s big-five publishers—Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan—have limited library lending of ebooks, either by time—two years, for example—or number of checkouts—most often, 26 or 52 times. Readers can browse, download, join waiting lists for, and return digital library books from the comfort of their home, and the books are automatically removed from their devices at the end of the lending period. The result: Libraries typically pay between $20 and $65 per copy—an industry average of $40, according to one recent survey—compared with the $15 an individual might pay to buy the same ebook online. Instead of owning an ebook copy forever, librarians must decide at the end of the licensing term whether to renew.
Comment Quick show of hands... (Score 1) 168
Who is surprised that Stallman got in "Of course GNU has a better methodology" ?
Comment Excellent! (Score 3, Insightful) 277
Now they just need to do all the Nazi accounts next.
Comment I can't help but be reminded... (Score 2) 43
Of how Windows ME had a "super secret hidden partition that only the OS could write to" until the malware makers (quickly) figured out how to stuff things in there. But the AV makers weren't allowed to go in there to clean it up...
Comment And you just know... (Score 1, Funny) 89
It was some white American anti-vaxxer who brought it there.
Probably named Karen.
Submission + - Blizzard In Hot Water With Lawmakers For Hearthstone Player Ban (theverge.com)
jimminy_cricket writes: Due to the ban placed on a Hearthstone player for supporting Hong Kong protestors, Blizzard is now receiving criticism from US senators. Quoting The Verge:
"‘Blizzard shows it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party,’ Sen. Ron Wyden said."
"‘Blizzard shows it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party,’ Sen. Ron Wyden said."
Comment Re: Anne Frank the DEAD JEW (Score 0) 344
Because it takes less people, overall, to turn off AC posting, than it does to review and vet comments.
It's purely a money and time decision.
Comment Re:DoA (Score 1) 130
This is Disney we're talking about. They have an almost cult like following as strong as Apple's. No, not just kids. Grown ass men too, and not just because of star wars. So no, I disagree with your DoA assessment.
At $6.99, I think it's priced great. I wasn't going to subscribe when they first announced this, but at that price, and all their back catalogue (Hello, ALL of The Simpsons!?), it'll be a great add if not just for my kids!
Comment I'm going to call BS... (Score 1) 145
At least in part.
I've written some of my better code while listening to music.
I mean, sure, some of the variable names end up being whatever act I'm listening to, but as long as I'm consistent, that's fine.
I think it's mostly that I'm not paying full attention to it, but have it there to drown out the random inanities of my coworkers.
Comment It's almost like... (Score 5, Insightful) 225
He's trying to get thrown out.
If I were the ambassador there, my response to this would be contact the London Met police, say he's coming out in 30 minutes, and then have the two burliest members of staff toss his arse into the street.
There is, I suspect, a reason I'm not an ambassador.
Comment It still gets me... (Score 1) 277
The number of programs (not just MS updates) that say, "We must reboot to finish this install".
I'm like, "You're keyboard software. The keyboard is working. All the lights on the keyboard are working. You obviously ~don't~ need to reboot to finish this."
It all goes back to MS being sort of crap at OSes in general, I suppose.
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"Conversion, fastidious Goddess, loves blood better than brick, and feasts most subtly on the human will." -- Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway"
