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The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

scientificamerican.com

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Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#151

Post by walterbell »

aspenmayer wrote: post #148
walterbell wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does Patreon block prepaid cards?

Probably some kind of interpretation of AML obligations. One could setup their own Patreon and pay themselves via cards in ways that banks, payment processors, and possibly law enforcement would rather you didn’t. I come across this a lot when trying to pay for things with Cash App or Coinbase Card, as they are both classed as prepaid cards for reasons I don’t understand.

It would be interesting to see real-world numbers on the prevalence of money laundering via $1-$10 monthly payments to Patreon, compared to other online vendors who accept legally-permitted prepaid card payments. Most prepaid cards are limited to relatively small amounts anyway, precisely to make them less usable for money laundering.

Meanwhile, https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/09/3-count-felon-jpmorga...

> secret documents leaked from FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a unit of the U.S. Treasury. The documents “show that five global banks — JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon — kept profiting from powerful and dangerous players even after U.S. authorities fined these financial institutions for earlier failures to stem flows of dirty money.”

In comparison to 7 figure flows, Patreon restrictions on already-limited prepaid cards are AML theater.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#152

Post by aspenmayer »

areoform wrote: post #38
interroboink wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might like Jonathan Blow's talk "Preventing the Collapse of Civilization": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-SOdj4Kkk Also, is your name a reference to the Mars trilogy? Reading that now (:

Yes, it is! I even had the chance to talk to Kim Stanley Robinson about it :)

Did this exchange happen on HN, by chance? Color me curious.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#153

Post by xyzzyz »

krallja wrote: post #106
xyzzyz wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are giving way too much credit to science in the early phase of industrial revolution. Science has been extremely important in technological development from late 1800s onwards, but the most critical leaps of late 1700s and early 1800s had little to do with Newton-style science. Instead, they mostly about engineering improvements, combined with a newly widespread social attitude that technology actually can be si…

> The scientists did occasionally deliver something valuable, often in fact paradigm-changing, but importantly, this only became very relevant around the turn of 20th century. James Watt was only able to build efficient steam engines because Joseph Black discovered latent heat in 1761. Without steam engines, there’s no industrial revolution.

> James Watt was only able to build efficient steam engines because Joseph Black discovered latent heat in 1761.

No, in fact both Black and Watt explicitly claimed that their research and results were independent.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#154

Post by aspenmayer »

jl6 wrote: post #61
jimbokun wrote: post #48

Is it just me, or is the Antikythera calling out for a Dr. Who episode tying it to aliens or some other fantastic explanation?

I think there was an attempt in FlashForward, but the series got cancelled.

That show is so underrated. It reminds me of the vibe of Charlie from Always Sunny in front of the bulletin board going on about Pepe Sylvia, but as a thought-provoking sci-fi show.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#155

Post by aspenmayer »

walterbell wrote: post #151
aspenmayer wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably some kind of interpretation of AML obligations. One could setup their own Patreon and pay themselves via cards in ways that banks, payment processors, and possibly law enforcement would rather you didn’t. I come across this a lot when trying to pay for things with Cash App or Coinbase Card, as they are both classed as prepaid cards for reasons I don’t understand.

It would be interesting to see real-world numbers on the prevalence of money laundering via $1-$10 monthly payments to Patreon, compared to other online vendors who accept legally-permitted prepaid card payments. Most prepaid cards are limited to relatively small amounts anyway, precisely to make them less usable for money laundering. Meanwhile, https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/09/3-count-felon-jpmorga... > secret…

I love this conversation. If anything, I feel like I’m late to this party, and I’m not even trying to do anything that isn’t expressly allowed.

To your point about small amounts, I think that is also monetizable with fake/stolen accounts cashing in on referral and promotional “free money,” combined with widespread flip/swap scams. I wonder if patio11 could enlighten us with some hard numbers on the dollar values of attempted fraudulent purchases. I suspect that actual card swipe fraud to be high dollar items sent to dead drops, and low dollar fraud utilizing unauthorized access to others’ accounts and money transfer apps, and so-called “friendly fraud.”

On a related note, scam rap is so lit right now. I’ll just leave this right here. Teejayx6 really gets the subculture, and as a child who grew up learning how to hack in the wild 90s, he speaks truth. He may have created the subgenre, but raps about ill-gotten gains are as old as soul music.

> I just made a fake GoFundMe someone send donations

https://genius.com/Teejayx6-gofundme-lyrics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teejayx6

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#156

Post by lisper »

basementcat wrote: post #144
lisper wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was pretty optimistic in 1990, but since then there is new data. Donald Trump was elected president and led a violent insurrection against the government based on a transparent lie with, so far, no negative consequences. If he runs in 2024 he will win the Republican nomination. Unless the Democrats suspend the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation, he will almost certainly be elected president again (because…

To me this may imply a sort of built-in "failsafe" against political and economic hegemonies that is a part of human nature. This may be useful to ensure that political systems do not last forever so at least some part of humanity is able to explore alternate ways to construct and operate societies.

Well, that's a cheerful way of looking at it I guess. Personally, I'm a fan of civilization, but maybe that's just a reflection of my rich-white-male privilege.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#157

Post by NickNameNick »

utopcell wrote: post #108

I remember reading that Clickspring's Chris has committed to giving away the Antikythera device to a random patreon supporter of his once it is completed.

He used to build two of everything.

Once to figure out how to make it, and again to film it.

So he may end up with two of each project, one to keep, another to give away.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#158

Post by FpUser »

pohl wrote: post #120
FpUser wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would collapse of democracy in the US lead to nuclear war?

If democratically-elected government disappears, something will fill that power void, and they will control that arsenal. Who knows what could happen with them.

>"Who knows what could happen with them."

Same as with the democratic government. Dictators are not suicidal. They prefer to be left alone.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#159

Post by adolph »

amznbyebyebye wrote: post #70

The 19 year Metonic cycle is interesting. I think it is also the orbital period of the moons nodes (aka dragon head/tail or north node/south node or rahu/Ketu in Indian astronomy). I wonder if there is a connection.

Then you’d might find the axial cycle interesting, and this sculpture depicting it.

The plaza’s terrazzo floor is actually a celestial map that marks the time of the dam’s creation based on the 25,772-year axial precession of the earth.

https://medium.com/the-long-now-foundation/the-26-000-year-a...

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#160

Post by FpUser »

weberer wrote: post #115
tehjoker wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking more of their cold war strategizing, but I also ask you, have you ever met an American QAnon enthusiast? ;)

Yes, and they seem to be mostly anti-war.

Average Russian are busy trying to live their lives. They do not wake up and start plotting WW III as a morning exercise.
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