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CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

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Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#171
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the same thing but similar, a programmer wrote once how he made his software delay the answer to some user action to make it look like the program was hard at work. The process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous, so he added some message like " working - x seconds left ". Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

Now there's an interesting UX paper if it hasn't been done already. In UX we hear that a milliseconds long delay directly affects user retention rates. I wonder how users feel about search reliability, or data integrity when results are faster than expected.

I don't know about papers, but I've read writeups from companies adding a "delay", usually with a progress bar, for things that are actually near-instant to perform. For "large" seeming operations, sometimes users assume an instant response actually means a failure.

DigitalOcean's Create Droplet flow comes to mind. You get a progress bar indicating your droplet is being created, but in just a few seconds you can click "My Droplets" and go use it immediately.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#172
post #87
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

Not the same thing but similar, a programmer wrote once how he made his software delay the answer to some user action to make it look like the program was hard at work. The process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous, so he added some message like " working - x seconds left ". Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

> Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

On HN there was this about Well Fargo "Establishing Secure Connection".

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5305925

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#173
post #59
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

Oracle release 2, there was no R1

Microsoft are at it too with Windows 10. Sneaky beaky ;)

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#174
post #87
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

Not the same thing but similar, a programmer wrote once how he made his software delay the answer to some user action to make it look like the program was hard at work. The process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous, so he added some message like " working - x seconds left ". Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

TurboTax's online tax prep software does this. You can just click the Next button as the slider animations slowly fill up. Maybe this comment will save someone else some time this year :)

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While no stores take checks here in the US either, it's far more common to use for settling personal debts. Also, many utility bills are most commonly paid by check here as well (for those who don't pay online), as people do not mail cash.

> While no stores take checks here in the US either My mother still routinely pays for nearly everything (groceries, pizza, hardware, etc.) using personal checks. She lives in a small town though.

I probably should've specified 'most'.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#176
post #173
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oracle release 2, there was no R1

Microsoft are at it too with Windows 10. Sneaky beaky ;)

This one is to workaround coders stupidity, despite winapi having functions to give windows version numerically, lots of coders just used regex on windows name... and the regex for "windows 9*" is extremely common

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the main issue that most people have with aliens is that we kinda expect that if they exist (which scientifically and religiously they should) and they have the technology to have found us and interact with us (possible) they would have subjugated us or annihilated us by now. The fact that they haven't suggests that either they don't exist or that they haven't found us.

That's just anthropic bias/survivor bias. There have probably been a lot of Earth like planets that have been annihilated. Perhaps the only reason we exist is because we are lucky enough to have friendly neighbors, or perhaps no neighbors. Well I do wonder how friendly they are, given that they haven't intervened at all in Earth's history. I find that very unlikely. Moral aliens would probably want to help us, amoral…

Given a pride of lions in Africa having severe domestic turmoil over leadership selection issues, what are the odds anyone in, for example, Wisconsin, either knows, cares, and is capable of sending an effective peacekeeping force?

You can even abstract out distance. I'm pretty sure there's some hierarchical struggle going on with the squirrels in my front yard, but I'm also pretty sure I don't care. And we're fellow mammals competing for the same nut trees and fruit bushes. If there are Star Trek Hortas tunneling under my backyard, I really don't care as long as they stay out of my basement.

Even within our own species there's a pretty strong taboo against colonialism that seems to automagically form right after (inevitable?) failed early experiments with colonialism. The odds of white people running Africa again are pretty low, even though we obviously did a better job than they are doing. Despite being incredibly easy to reach and staggering power imbalance, the colonies in Africa didn't last long and even a fairly irrational space alien would see the futility in trying to take over Earth.

There are many reasons to invade Canada. Stealing their resources of spar and mast grade timber for 1800s era sailing ships would be a pretty stupid idea in the current year. Its possible there's a natural magic filter such that being able to travel interstellar and having enough power to turn earth into a colony naturally means there are no material resources on earth worth the taking... What would a galaxy wide empire do with titanium, silicon based semiconductor electronics, or rocket engines, only miserable savages a million levels beneath them use stuff like that. It would be like handing a modern american a flint spear tip, what good is that other than in a museum?

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#178
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow what country still uses cheques? Most stores won't take them anymore, here in New Zealand.

While no stores take checks here in the US either, it's far more common to use for settling personal debts. Also, many utility bills are most commonly paid by check here as well (for those who don't pay online), as people do not mail cash.

I can't think of any stores in the US that don't take checks.

Most major retailers (e.g. WalMart) have electronic check acceptance, where they scan the check, print all the details on it, then hand it back to you. It's faster than a debit card, if a bit awkward at first.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt the CIA were gaming Google in the 60s. It's also beyond ridiculous to think that a superpower like the USSR couldn't completely evaluate any material that came their way. The fake aircraft seems more reasonable though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-50#Development > The first two Ka-50 prototypes had false windows painted on them.[19] The "windows" evidently worked, as the first western reports of the…

> It's also beyond ridiculous to think that a superpower like the USSR couldn't completely evaluate any material that came their way. Communist Russia was coming apart at the seams, and it took the US many years to realize it. There's a lot of complexity.

[deleted]

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#180
post #87
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

Not the same thing but similar, a programmer wrote once how he made his software delay the answer to some user action to make it look like the program was hard at work. The process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous, so he added some message like " working - x seconds left ". Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

I did this myself just a few weeks ago. The complaints was that search results would often come back fast enough that the user may not understand anything was done if the results happen to be the same.
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