Archive for August 2020

New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Captcha Alternatives?

August 31, 2020 Add Comment
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Captcha Alternatives?
Ask HN: Captcha Alternatives?
47 by ev1 | 42 comments on Hacker News.
TLDR: I help with a gaming community-related site that is being targetted by a script kiddie, they are registering hundreds of thousands of accounts on our forums to 'protest' a cheating (aimbot) ban. They then post large ASCII art spam, giant shock images (the first one started after we blocked new accounts from posting [img]), the usual. Currently we use a simple question/answer addon at registration time - it works against all untargeted bots and is just a little "what is 4 plus six" or "what is the abbreviation for this website" type of question. It's worked fine for years and we don't really get general untargeted spam. I am somewhat ethically disinclined to use reCAPTCHA, and there are some older members that can't reasonably solve hcaptcha easily. Same for using heavy fingerprinting or other privacy invading methods. It's also donation-run, so enterprise services that would block something like this (such as Distil) are both out of budget and out of ethics. Is there a way I can possibly solve this? Negotiation is not really an option on the table, the last time one of the other volunteers responded at all we got a ~150Gbps volumetric attack. I've tried some basic things, like requiring cookie and JS support via middleware; they moved from a Java HTTP-library script to some kind of Selenium equivalent afterward. They also use a massive amount of proxies, largely compromised machines being sold for abuse.

New top story on Hacker News: Tell HN: Check medium's localstorage if you use adblock

August 28, 2020 Add Comment
New top story on Hacker News: Tell HN: Check medium's localstorage if you use adblock
Tell HN: Check medium's localstorage if you use adblock
51 by ev1 | 4 comments on Hacker News.
If you have uBlock or similar, it appears medium logs all analytics pings into HTML5 LocalStorage and will keep retrying to send them (and apparently periodically change domains and subdomains to try and send them). I had tens of thousands of entries in localStorage, wasting quite a bit of space, all of them at least 400-600 characters or more. Each time I scrolled it'd add a few dozen more in, to the point where devtools was freezing. Ridiculous. Example: https://ift.tt/2QAyqu0

Which OCD treatment works best? New brain study could lead to more personalized choices

August 28, 2020 Add Comment
Which OCD treatment works best? New brain study could lead to more personalized choices
New research could improve the odds that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder will receive a therapy that really works for them - something that eludes more than a third of those who currently get OCD treatment. The study suggests the possibility of predicting which of two types of therapy will help people with OCD: One that exposes them to the subject of their obsessive thoughts and behaviors, or one that focuses on stress reduction and problem-solving.

from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/32z0qUp

Amateur drone videos could aid in natural disaster damage assessment

August 28, 2020 Add Comment
Amateur drone videos could aid in natural disaster damage assessment
It wasn't long after Hurricane Laura hit the Gulf Coast Thursday that people began flying drones to record the damage and posting videos on social media. Those videos are a precious resource, say researchers who are working on ways to use them for rapid damage assessment. By using artificial intelligence, the researchers are developing a system that can automatically identify buildings and make an initial determination of whether they are damaged and how serious that damage might be.

from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3joNCXl

Optical illusions explained in a fly's eyes

August 24, 2020 Add Comment
Optical illusions explained in a fly's eyes
Why people perceive motion in some static images has mystified not only those who view these optical illusions but neuroscientists who have tried to explain the phenomenon. Now neuroscientists have found some answers in the eyes of flies.

from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/34wsBGe

Machines rival expert analysis of stored red blood cell quality

August 24, 2020 Add Comment
Machines rival expert analysis of stored red blood cell quality
Once outside the body, stored blood begins degrading until, by day 42, they're no longer usable. Until now, assessing its quality has required laborious microscopic examination by human experts. A new study reveals two methodologies that combine machine learning and state-of-the-art imaging to automate the process and eliminate human bias. If standardized, it could ensure more consistent, accurate assessments, with increased efficiency and better patient outcomes.

from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3jaEFkl

The Risks if Biden Loses

August 24, 2020 Add Comment
The Risks if Biden Loses
A reader calls the former vice president our best hope to right the wrongs of the last four years. Also: Oil leasing in the Arctic refuge; Lori Loughlin’s jail sentence; prisoner firefighters; Trump donors.

from NYT > Top Stories https://ift.tt/2QkSFM7

Neymar Finally Grows Up

August 22, 2020 Add Comment
Neymar Finally Grows Up
Paris St.-Germain brought in the Brazilian forward to win games like Sunday’s Champions League final. The key to achieving his goal, and the club’s, may be realizing he doesn’t have to do it alone.

from NYT > Sports https://ift.tt/2YtQIl4
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